‘You can’t roll the dice all the time’: First responders preparing for more freight trains

The Itasca Fire Protection District is building a second station. Bensenville is rethinking how it dispatches police cars and ambulances. Wood Dale firefighters are learning new train detection software.

It’s been two years since U.S. Surface Transportation Board members approved Canadian Pacific’s acquisition of the Kansas City Southern, creating a railway that spans North America.

As freight traffic inches up in the suburbs, first responders are focused on troubleshooting the inevitable increase in blocked crossings to prevent delays in getting to 911 calls.

When the merger became official in March 2023, CPKC ran three freights a day between Elgin and Bensenville. Now it’s up to 4.6 trains on average, and eventually will reach 11.

“That will be a huge impact on us,” Itasca Fire Chief Jack Schneidwind said, adding, “50% of our (emergency) runs are north of the tracks, 50% are south of the tracks,” where the current station is.

The planned second station, to be located on the north side, will cost $5.5 million to build. A $2.5 million federal grant is helping, but it’s still a huge expense for the district.

“It’s a frustrating situation that we’re in because of a for-profit merger,” Schneidwind said. “The (fire district) board has determined we need to provide protection to the people north of the tracks.”

Itasca has experienced occasions when all its crossings were blocked; fortunately there were no calls for service at those times.

“But you can’t roll the dice all the time. We don’t have all the time in the world. A fire can double in size every minute,” Schneidwind said.

Prior to the merger, Wood Dale experienced about 15 to 20 instances a year of firefighter/paramedics being delayed by trains blocking crossings, Fire Chief Patrick Johl said.

Now, it’s about 25 to 30 delays a year, he said.

Wood Dale has stations on both sides of the tracks, so “I still have first responders getting there but it might be, if it’s an ambulance call, my ambulance might be stuck by the train. My engine will get there with paramedics on it … and they can start treatment, but my ambulance is getting delayed,” Johl explained.

Trains are expected to grow in length, but the current median average is 5,965 feet compared to 7,041 feet pre-merger, CPKC reported. A mile is 5,280 feet.

“(If) they go up to 3 miles long, they can block off all of Itasca and Wood Dale at the same time if that train stops,” Johl said.

That’s why Wood Dale is reinventing its staffing and response models, coordinating new mutual aid logistics with neighboring fire departments, and training on software that predicts delays, he said.

With 11 freights plus Metra trains, “we’re really not going to be able to depend on crossing the railroad tracks as a route to get to an emergency,” Johl said. “We have to plan for the opposite … most likely that crossing is going to be blocked.”

Bensenville Village President Frank DeSimone said they’ve seen some “growing pains” at the Bensenville yard since the merger, with increased delays and switching issues.

“We’ve been intentional about our dispatch practices to ensure we have emergency teams on either side of the tracks in case an extended delay happens,” he added. “We’ve also been working closely with our neighboring communities to ensure we don’t run into a situation where any emergency response is delayed. It’s not a perfect system without the expected monitoring system, but we’re doing what we can to avoid getting stuck at blocked crossings.”

As part of the federal approval, CPKC is paying for safety training and providing technology that gives alerts about incoming freights in several suburbs. The system detects trains and gives alerts about blocked crossings.

CPKC spokesman Patrick Waldron said the company is integrating the two railroads well.

“We are creating competition, growth and driving investment. We are enabling commerce between three great nations. We closed out 2024 strong and carried that into this year,” he said. “Our combined operations have enabled us to provide more reliable service, greater capacity and innovation solutions for rail customers.”

Waldron noted that in 2024 the railroad had the lowest reportable train accident frequency in the industry, “building on Canadian Pacific’s 17 years straight as an industry leader.”